The event was designed to encourage the faith-based community to partner together to improve education and reduce crime. But all seven of the religious leaders who spoke at the breakfast were from Christian churches.

At Brown’s 2011 and 2012 breakfasts, the speakers included a rabbi, Hindu priest and an imam.

After being asked about the lack of diversity three times, city spokeswoman Aleizha Batson ultimately admitted Monday it was an “oversight” not to include a variety of faiths in the program.

Batson refused to answer the question of who was responsible for issuing the invitations and who approved the lineup.

The lack of diversity at the head table was disappointing, said Parvez Ahmed, board secretary of the Islamic Center of Northeast Florida and a member of Jacksonville’s Human Rights Commission.

“We would always prefer to see diversity of faith included in any event, particularly a city-funded event,” he said.

Ahmed said he was not able to attend the breakfast. As a board member of the Islamic Center, he had heard of no invitation for an Islamic representative to be part of the program.

Representatives of the Jacksonville Jewish Center and the Hindu Society of Northeast Florida could not be reached for comment Monday afternoon.

Getting answers to what happened took several email exchanges with Batson.

In her first response, Batson said “religious institutions of many faiths” were invited to Monday’s breakfast and more than 1,000 people attended. Her statement was accompanied by a long list of churches, synagogues and other religious institutions that received invitations but did not address why the dais lacked non-Christians.

After a second inquiry about the lack of diversity, she responded: “The Mayor’s Interfaith Breakfast will continue to grow and develop in the years to come. We look forward to having a variety of religious leaders from all faiths on next year’s program.”

And after a third inquiry, she said, “While we invited religious institutions of many faiths to attend the Mayor’s Interfaith Breakfast, it was an oversight not to ensure that a variety of faiths were represented on the program. We look forward to having religious leaders of many faiths on next year’s program.”

The local pastors who spoke at Monday’s breakfast were from Alachua-Central African Methodist Episcopal Church, Most Holy Redeemer Catholic Church, The Potters House International Ministries, Celebration Church, Evangel Temple and Faith Temple Assembly of God. The keynote speaker was Bishop T.D. Jakes, a nationally known pastor from Dallas.

When you want to know where your horse is going next, get the answer straight from its mouth. Don't talk to the other end.

4104 points

Bill Graham

Tuesday, May 28, 2013 @ 11:53 pm

Distant Karma,

I really appreciated your commentary. It's enlightened, and I hope others paid attention to it as well. Personally, I'm not sure I believe in Heaven or Hell anymore. I believe there is an afterlife, and that it is probably peaceful. But as for these eternal places, I believe they are mostly states of mind right here on earth.

One can choose to live in either place right now, and one can choose to become a citizen of either regardless of their faith or lack thereof. How you live in this life is probably going to follow you to some extent wherever you end up in eternity if there is such a thing, but that doesn't mean it will be all good or all bad. In fact, I believe death is a release and a relief for almost everyone if not everyone.

Due to anecdotal evidence from near-death experiences, I believe there might be some validity to meeting with one's loved ones after the brain dies, not just while it is dying. It's interesting, though, because this phenomenon isn't limited to Christians or any other specific religion. It happens to all other people groups, including atheists.

I'm not willing to dismiss outright that it is a chemical or physiological function of the dying brain, but we cannot prove or disprove either way at this time. There are some interesting experiments going on in Belgium at this time trying to find an answer. As for the concept of hell, I believe most of it is the pure fancy of medieval Christian superstition. For example, the devil being a red guy with a trident, horns and a pointy tail. That is mythology.

Even those parts of the Hell concept that are apparently supported by the New Testament are very easy to misinterpret. The word Gehenna, from which we derived the Greek word for Hell, referred a trash pit in the Valley of Hinnom. If I recall correctly, that is where Jerusalem threw its refuse. The smoke rising forever out of the Lake of Fire, does that mean we'll burn forever? Does everlasting torment mean that every soul in hell will last forever? I don't think so. The fires of hell may be unquenchable, but the human body is finite, and I believe the human soul is also finite. It has a beginning and an end. If our souls were infinite, we could become deities ourselves. In that respect, we would be no different than the ancient Greek pantheon.

If there is a punishment in the after life, it has to be appropriate to the wrongs committed in this life. But if God is gracious, slow to anger and quick to mercy, then I have to think he knows our weaknesses and forgives us. But who knows the person we've come to call "God" anyway? Our ideas of that deity are tainted by centuries of nationalism and western philosophy that have attributed to him all sorts of idolatrous notions and mythology that isn't even necessarily Christian or Jewish. In fact, I think most Christians think more about themselves than God, and that is more characteristic of the age of enlightenment than of anything in the New Testament. All one has to do is open the average evangelical hymnal, and it is filled with songs about "me, me, me." God is only secondary to "me, myself and I."

I've already decided to go to Hell, and I'd like to buy a ticket to Hell before I die. I hear it gets pretty cold there. It freezes over every year. I'm sure quite a few people are convinced I'm going to the hot side of Hell. I know one thing. I sure as hell don't want to go to Heaven and live for eternity. If you stop to think about it even for a second, that would get old after a while. After I read through all of Mark Twain's books, especially "Letters from the Earth," study all of the works of the great composers, write my own masterpieces and explore the universe, I'll be ready to hang it up. One thing I don't want is to be cooped up in an celebration. Even that has its limits.

Once I'm in Hell, I'll probably burn up within a few seconds. I'm seriously overweight, so it may take a few more seconds for me. Yeah, I'll probably suffer for a portion of those seconds, but then it's over. Once I'm charred to a crisp, there is nothing left to burn. Of course, I'm aware that people think my spirit will burn, but spirits are not material.

All that matters is that I won't have to worry about the people at First Baptist Heaven pointing at me and laughing in derision for eternity. Even if they do, I'll be completely unconscious, and I won't hear them. About the only thing I would consider really hellish is if I had to attend that church downtown for the rest of eternity. That would be shear agony, and yes, I would gnash my teeth.

On the other hand, I suspect Jesus understands exactly where I'm coming from and that he may have a bottle of ice-cold Obama beer waiting for me after I enter the poily gates. I also suspect there will be lots of Democrats, Socialists, Communists, LGBT folks, Muslims, Jews, Buddhists, Hindus, Mormons, Atheists, Agnostics, and yes, Wiccans who delight in reading Harry Potter. In fact, I believe many Christians will be surprised that they'll have to stand in line behind some of these people. The first shall be last, and the last shall be first. If that happens, there will be no oversights for our interfaith breakfast, but there may not be any food either, and no coffee! They'll all be there, because everyone is equal in the eyes of the Almighty if he exists at all.

The last posters are definitely onto something.
The T-U should sit down with Alvin and ask him exactly how each person appointed to his office got their job and why. They list their name, race, age, previous employer and current salary.
I don't think you'll find much experience, but you are likely to find a lot of friends (or relatives of friends). You will also likely find a bunch of people who are now making a lot more than they were before and are reaping the benefits of the public sector.
In other words, unqualified moochers.